Telephone Patent
One hour before Alexander Graham Bell registered his patent for the telephone in 1876, Elisha Gray patented his design. After years of litigation, the patent went to Bell.
First Electronic Musical Instrument
Gray invented the first electronic musical instrument. He had accidentally discovered that he could control sound from a self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit and in doing so invented a basic single note oscillator. The "Musical Telegraph" used steel reeds whose oscillations were created and transmitted over a telephone line by electromagnets. At the same time, around 1874, Bell had also designed an experimental "Electric Harp" for speech transmission over a telephone line using similar technology to Gray's.
More Inventions Facts
Differential Calculus Invention
In 1669, the principles of differential calculus were determined by Sir Isaac Newton in England and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Germany at about the same time.
First Computer
The computer was launched in 1943, more than 100 years after Charles Babbage designed the first programmable device. Babbage dropped his idea after he couldn't raise capital for it. In 1998, the Science Museum in London, UK, built a working replica of the Babbage machine, using the materials and work methods available at Babbage's time. It worked just as Babbage had intended.